The invention relates to a holder for receiving and retaining tools, writing utensils, kitchen utensils and the like elongated articles, where the holder comprises a housing with an elongated slit for receiving the articles, said slit being defined by a flexible lip projecting from the respective elongated sides of said slit, and where said lip is adapted to abut both sides of the article(s) in question.
Holders are known for receiving elongated articles. These holders comprise a slit defined by flexible lips projecting from their respective sides, and these lips engage the article in question from both sides so as to retain said article in the slit.
The object of the invention is to provide a holder presenting a relatively high capacity and retaining the articles in a reliable manner in the inserted position.
The latter is obtained by the holder described above according to the invention being characterised in that the holder comprises several rows of lips extending substantially in parallel, said lips being arranged in pairs opposite one another and presenting a mutually complementary, substantially wavy shape, and that the crests and troughs of each pair of lips engage one another. The substantially wavy shape of the lips has the effect that the insertion of an article causes a displacement sideways of the adjacent portions of the lips, but only within a limited area around the insertion location, only the adjacent crests being affected when seen in a direction away from the article. As a result the articles can be arranged relatively close to one another in a row. In addition, several rows of lips ensure that it is very difficult to tilt the article back and forth lengthwise to the slit, and accordingly each article is retained in a reliable manner in its position.
According to the invention the crests and troughs of the lips may be mutually staggered from row to row, which improves the reliable retaining of the article additionally because said article is affected in different ways by the lips from row to row.
According to the invention it is particularly advantageous when the elongated sides of the slit are formed by housing parts of a plastic material, and when the lips are made by way of injection moulding of an elastomeric material and are thereby permanently connected to the associated housing part. The resulting manufacture of the holders is particularly easy.
The above housing parts may furthermore according to the invention be hingedly interconnected and comprise co-operating releasable locking means for retaining said housing parts in an interconnecting position while forming the slit. As a result it is very easy to open and close the slit when portions of an article get stuck inside said slit.
Finally, the hinged connection may according to the invention be provided by means of a film hinge cast integral with the housing parts with the result that all the parts of the holder can be cast integral by way of injection moulding followed by a folding so as to form the slit.